Entertainment

Google Mobile Exec: Android Is Profitable

Andy Rubin, the VP of engineering at Google responsible for mobile, has revealed that the company's rapidly expanding Android operating system would be profitable if it was broken out as its own business.

Asked by The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference in San Francisco if the division is making money for the search giant, Rubin responded affirmatively with a "yes."

Mossberg pressed on the issue, noting that Google's mobile revenue still primarily comes via ads from Google mobile search — searches that occur both on Android devices and iPhone and other platforms (i.e., Google would be making that money with or without Android).

Rubin conceded that "there’s no way [Android] would’ve ever been profitable as a startup company," (Rubin sold Android to Google in 2005) but says that the resources provided by Google's enormous advertising revenue streams and the ability to offer Android open source have allowed Android to pursue a business model that's become profitable.

Although Rubin wouldn't break out exactly how Android makes money, he did reveal that there are now 172 phones on the market running Android, the latest of which, the Nexus S, was revealed earlier today. That's a lot more smartphones that drive a lot more mobile searches, and presumably, that's how Rubin's math adds up.

Rubin credited Android's success to its open source model, making it easy for any manufacturer or carrier to offer devices, saying "It's ... frictionless for OEMs no matter where they’re doing the manufacturing … without a contractual relationship or having money change hands."

He did concede, however, that the Nexus One business model — offering unlocked phones direct to consumers via the web — was not a good business one for Google to pursue and that the provisioning and activation of mobile phones is best left to the carriers. "We thought it would be better to spend our resources on things like Gingerbread," (the latest Android OS) he said.

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